THE HORSE. 93 



no intermixture with the old EngUsh 

 racing stock of James I.'s period. 



If climate and good pasture effected 

 all the improvement which Admiral Rous 

 allows did occur, how was it that ante- 

 cedent to the Charles 11. day the ponies 

 during the Tudor epoch did not increase 

 in size. The climate and pasture played ciimate and 



good pasture 



the same part then that it is said to could not 



^ alone nave, 



have played years later on; and surely rfprovement 

 the Tudors would not have caused laws Admiral Rous 



admits did 



to be passed for the slaughter of small occur. 

 horses and ''unlikely tits " if they had 

 recognised that good pastures and a hu- 

 mid atmosphere would have produced, 

 greater size. The truth w^as that the 

 small horses of England lacked fresh 

 cross, which did not occur until after the 

 Oriental importations ; and every physio- 



